Ladies vs. Butlers! Ep. 1

So we’re at a rich school… a very rich school where the ratio of servants to students is probably two to one.

I don’t get it. I know, I just said that, but I really don’t get it. With all the tea and cakes, you’d think they could afford some noses for everyone.

Or maybe some damn bras for their ladies.

Either that or it’s very chilly and they could use some heatin– WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR HAIR?!

You got the childhood friend,

the loli-but-not-really,

the “clumpsy” (gotta get this sub out first!),

the ironically slutty,

the reverse trap,

and last, but not least, the tsunde- WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR HAIR?!

There are a few more characters I didn’t name, but you can rest assured they’re not terribly original either. I realize this is an ecchi anime and those are not exactly tours de force when it comes to originality, so I can’t expect much more than these generic, cardboard cutouts for characters. I just think, however, that an ecchi anime should be able to come up with something sexier or “ecchi-er” than lulz breast grab.

Not once, not even twice…

But thrice.

That looked like it hurt. Maybe some lasting tissue damage or something, but come on, think of something different at lea-

I had delusions of this being about some underground fighting circuit where pampered young women with super powers forced their servants to take super power-inducing drugs so they could fight them Fight Club style. The one strong willed butler would rise up Spartacus-style and try to overthrow their regime.

They don’t get hurt and beaten to a bloody pulp (by the opposite gender) like the males in anime _usually_ do.

I suppose you think The Three Stooges are misanthropes. Men encountering physical pain in anime (or anything else) is obviously just for comedy’s sake because it isn’t mirrored in the real world. In the real world, most men are not usually beaten to a pulp by the opposite sex; the idea is absurd, ironic and thus comedy (to some).

Just imagine asking someone “why don’t women get beaten up too?” People wouldn’t say “Because we hate men;” they’d likely say “Because you just don’t do that to women.” If anything, the refusal to do the same to women says more about how society regards women as inferior creatures who must be physically protected at all costs, even from cartoon violence. Hell, most of these anime are written by men for men, so misandry doesn’t even make sense unless you think Japanese men are self-loathing.

On the other hand, sexual objectification of women has been happening ever since the dawn of civilization. There’s nothing absurd or ironic about it in most anime. Maybe the girls in Ladies vs. Butlers! are just being molested for comedic effect too! But do you honestly think that’s the case?

And how is this anime not anti-female? In just one episode, we learn that women are apparently pathetic creatures who can’t utter the word “breast,” are rich and spoiled brats, blush uncontrollably when a man touches them, and are molested without any real consequences. Oh, it’s just for laughs.

I thought The Three Stooges was funny, at first. And then I thought it was the worst series ever made.

I don’t like how the guys in anime get beat up more than the women. I don’t find it funny at all. In fact, it’s more of a reminder of how pathetic the anime audience is and how pathetic I was back when I was young.

My belief as to why so many guys are fans of these types of anime, aside from watching pretty women and make them their wives or their own personal harem, is “sadistic voyeurism.” They like seeing guys in pain; suffering more than they are. And it’s funny to them because someone else’s unhappiness makes them happy.

Remember: The lot of the otaku-tachi are highschool drop-outs and easy quitters. People who couldn’t take the pressure of Japan’s society and live their lives as NEETs; taking money from their parents or some financial start-up program. (Some of them making money off of fanworks and such.) They cuss out at handsome / successful guys, fap to images of 9-year-old girls, and care more about the quality of animation than they do about personal hygiene.

There was this one guy who ran some blog; he praised Love Hina’s Keitaro Urashima for being the “every-nerd.” He rooted for him because he’d been where Keitaro’s been… (Because if you have a goal and too many obstacles in the way, you want the obstacles out the way. You don’t want to become a running gag. Atleast that’s how it is in reality…)

I nearly became an anime otaku. If I had a lower amount of self-worth and self-respect, it would’ve been over for me. :(

My belief as to why so many guys are fans of these types of anime, aside from watching pretty women and make them their wives or their own personal harem, is “sadistic voyeurism.”

But it’s not real. It’s not reflecting anything in real life. When most guys watch anime males get beaten up, it’s easily seen as pure fantasy because there’s nothing to ground it in reality. In actuality, what you are seeing is anime males leering at and molesting anime females, and the only consequence is unreal physical violence. It isn’t misandry at all. Perhaps it registers negatively to you, but most nerds aren’t watching these anime to see guys get hurt. They’re watching these anime to watch women get stripped down, and “oh, haha he gets humorously punched for it” but the aftermath is so unreal, it is meaningless; it is an empty gesture of punishment.

They like seeing guys in pain; suffering more than they are. And it’s funny to them because someone else’s unhappiness makes them happy.

I’m sorry but how do you know any of this? Most people do not enjoy watching actual pain and suffering. The reason most people laugh because it is unreal.

And it’s generalization to say NEETs are easy quitters. It’s much more complicated than that.

I know it’s not real. But it’s the card that’s been played WAY too many times.

Where’s the alternative where the men DON’T get beaten up for the sake of the otaku-tachi? Where the reverse happen for laughs and the girls get beaten up by the guys? Anime like that (i.e. Juuden-chan) are few and far between, if even possible to be done properly.

But no. My main gripe is with how the guys in anime are useless / pathetic / punching bags / feminized / less than what they should be (whilst the women are everything and the kitchen sink). Unless they’re in a true adult anime title, they just can’t seem to succeed in anything.

And if it’s a generalization to say that NEET’s are easy quitters they Why Do They Not Have Jobs? I’ve seen illegal immigrants acquire jobs quicker on a good day. It’s more self-psychology than a complication.

Where the reverse happen for laughs and the girls get beaten up by the guys?

In an ideal world, maybe there should be slapstick comedy with females as well. But that doesn’t make the slapstick with men negative. It’s like saying the army is made up of mostly men so obviously society hates men and wants them to go die. That’s absurd.

My main gripe is with how the guys in anime are useless / pathetic / punching bags / feminized / less than what they should be

We’re not disagreeing here. A lot of male characters in anime are pathetic. But this isn’t necessarily misandry. The harem leader is supposed to be weak, but I doubt this is expressing any kind of anti-male message; I think it serves a wholly different function.

It’s easier to get a job as an illegal immigrant than a NEET. Do you seriously think otherwise? Employers would rather have someone easy to manipulate and willing to take low wages over someone clearly overqualified. Do you really think slaving away at a low wage with no prospects of advancement, with no union representation, with no job benefits, etc. is the solution to NEET?

But no. My main gripe is with how the guys in anime are useless / pathetic / punching bags / feminized / less than what they should be (whilst the women are everything and the kitchen sink). Unless they’re in a true adult anime title, they just can’t seem to succeed in anything.

A) Your use of “feminized” as an insult is kind of icky and implies that something that is less than masculine is bad. :/

B) The guys always succeed in one thing: getting at least one of the girls. The message that I get from this is that no matter how sad/pathetic/socially inept/lacking in ambition a guys is he still can get his fantasy girl in the land of 2D. Otaku are living vicariously through a guy that resembles them (or is worse off than they are) getting the girl of his dreams.

C) The girls and women in this type of anime are generally portrayed in any positive manner because they aren’t anything but glorified sex objects for otaku. They are positive in the sense that they are perfect representations of what otaku wish for in a woman, but they are nothing more than that.

And as for the women that beat up the loser protagonist, they aren’t there because of otaku or Japanese misandry. The entire point of these characters is that while they are combative and violently reject the perceived advances of the protagonist, they actually turn out to love them. This is marketed to guys who have either always been rejected or never got the nerve to ask any woman out because they know they’d be rejected. It seems to me that this narrative is a fantasy where these men can imagine that women rejecting their advances are actually just playing hard to get.

I’m a 35-year-old black guy who lives by myself in a studio apartment and works in security for a good 10 years. And there are times when I can give more respect to anybody who works hard (street beggers, the homeless, and the infamous illegal immigrants) than the NEETs.

Despite everything else: What positive contribution does a NEET give to society? They buy crap on someone else’s money, offer nothing but put-downs, avoid human interaction, and basically take up space for no good reason (unless they run the risk of having their free ride cut off).

I nearly became a NEET until my brother and mom verbally beat the crap out of me. And I know of a coworker who had to physically beat the crap out of his NEET son (before he eventually joined the Armed Forces).

So yeah. Why the NEETs fear “pulling up their own bootstraps,” I’ll never know. I save my money and go to Nevada’s brothels once a year. So how would I know what NEETs do? ^_^